In a recent incident reported on December 21, 2024, 318 elderly people from Chongqing participated in a “Five Days, Four Nights in Sanya” travel program only to find out upon arrival at the airport that the travel agency hadn’t purchased their flight tickets.
According to a video posted by netizens on December 19 on social media platforms, over 300 elderly individuals paid 1580 yuan each to join the “Chongqing to Sanya” tour. After gathering at the Chongqing Tongjing Liangjiang Holiday Hotel, they were supposed to be taken by bus to Chongqing Jiangbei Airport to catch their flight arranged by the travel agency. However, upon reaching the airport, they discovered that the travel agency had not actually bought the tickets. Subsequently, these elderly people were brought back to the Tongjing Liangjiang Holiday Hotel, leading to disputes between the two parties.
In an interview with Chongqing Television, one elderly person mentioned, “We are all elderly people in our 60s and 70s, who have never flown before and just wanted to have a good time. But in the end, we couldn’t even enjoy the trip, and they didn’t refund our money.”
In response to this, Mr. Huang from the travel agency stated, “The issue lies with the local reception agency in Hainan Island. We transferred the funds to them, but they didn’t arrange the group tickets.”
On December 20, the Hainan Provincial Department of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television, and Sports issued a notice, stating that they contacted the contact person “Han” provided by the Chongqing organizing agency, but Han claimed to be working in the tourism industry in Hunan and not an employee of the Hainan reception agency. Han also claimed to have no knowledge of organizing Chongqing tourists for travel to Hainan. Preliminary investigations suggest that the individuals involved might be operating a travel agency business “without permission,” and an investigation is currently underway.
On December 21, the Social Development Bureau and Market Supervision Administration of Liangjiang New Area in Chongqing issued a notice, identifying the company in question as Mysterious Time International Travel Agency in Chongqing, involved in illegal activities such as “enticing customers with low prices.”
The statement further mentioned that the company recently attracted tourists through on-site travel project presentations and arranged group tours through its “cooperative organization – Chongqing Shangkeyou International Travel Agency Co., Ltd.” The travel program involving 318 participants was scheduled to depart on December 18. However, due to a lack of agreement between the two companies, the tickets were not purchased as planned, leading to the inability of the tourists to depart on time. Mysterious Time has been instructed to refund all participants.
The news has sparked heated discussions online, with many netizens questioning whether it was unauthorized or a scam. Some commented, “Just refunding the money? Isn’t that still fraud?” Others expressed shock at the situation, calling it outrageous and mentioning the rising number of fraud cases targeting elderly individuals. Some advised choosing reputable travel agencies for tours and questioned why the organizing agency failed to confirm ticket purchases before departure.
Certain netizens also found the official announcements misleading, pointing out that it was clearly a case of fraud. They criticized the authorities for downplaying the incident as a mere contractual dispute between companies. The actions of the Liangjiang New Area Market Supervision Administration appeared to trivialize the crime, indicating a lack of proper handling of the situation in the tourism market regulation.